Dual mono with REL Subwoofer

[PeppaPig]

Hi Laura,

My G1 position is not ideal. Unluckily I had no space to put it in the corner behind the speakers, so I had to find an alternative place. That is the reason why I had to listen to it at my place, rather than in a demo room. I tried 2 configuration, one was the sub right in the center of the speakers. Even if it was sounding good, it wasn't a viable solution for the layout of the room. So I tried putting it on the side respect where I sit, facing the speakers. One side it is close to the couch, the other side is about one meter and something from the wall. Behind there is a sliding door that can be closed. So all in all it is quite enclosed in a corner but on the other side of where it should be. Still sounds great and really works like side table (even if sometimes the wine glasses tend to move around a bit). The bass at those frequencies are not directional, as I do a crossover at 26Hz it doesn't pick up anything that could give a strong feeling of direction. The only thing you need to a bit careful with the volume otherwise you can easily overpower the music As in the same room I have also an home theater set up, I use the REL as subwoofer connected to the LFE of the surround. In that case the crossover is at 80Hz still the sound is pretty good and not boomy at all.

I have only one, unless I don't change house there is no way I can fit a second one.

Regarding voices.... I am trying to find a way to say it without sounding crazy... What I did notice in general is that having more low range benefit the mid-high levels as well.
English is not my first language so fumbling a bit for words here. But it is like when you look at an image with clamped colors and the blacks are crushed. Once you expand the range not only you see details where before was black but you also notice that the highlights look better because the whole range is more balanced. The feeling for me has been the same with the Sub. To be honest I thought this was a big component of BIAS toward a big purchase that needed to be justified, but then a friend of mine came for a listening session at my place and, completely unsolicited made the exact same comment, noting how the mid-high range was gaining definition.
Obviously if you listen to Leonard Cohen's Going Home from the album Old Ideas you will get an immediate benefit just at the low ranges
I checked the dimensions on the S5 and yes it is a bit smaller than the G1,
444.5 x 455.5 x 507 mm
vs
571.5 x 462 x 680.3 mm
Anyway the S5 looks really nice and I am sure it will perform great. A lot depend from what your speakers can do. As mine are nominally going down to 25Hz, having a sub with a range down to 20Hz wasn't making a lot of sense so I went for a more extended range (15Hz) and that was the decision factor.

Marco

Hi Marco, thanks for sharing those information it’s really helpful.

So your sub is placed in front of your speaker and the sub driver facing you or your speaker? Usually sub are behind speakers, I am not sure how it will sound like when they are placing in front of speakers.

I just checked my room and found G1 68cm depth won’t fit into the corner behind my speaker. It has to be place in front of left or right speaker... which nah looks ugly... and then check the S5, it’s 55cm depth, also very tight to fit behind my speakers... unless I go S3 which is about 43cm...but looking at the advice from REL website, for decent large floor stand speakers they recommend bigger and more powerful sub, such as G1, not even S5... looks like I have to change house.. the S3 is 10inch, 21Hz lowest, doesn’t really look attractive to me.

By the way, human ear can only hear between 20Hz to 20KHz range, why REL making G1 to 15Hz if our ear cannot hear it?